Washington’s main negotiator has criticised Hamas’s response to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal, calling it “totally unacceptable”, AFP reports.

In a statement yesterday, Hamas said it would released “10 living prisoners” and return 18 bodies “in exchange for an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners”.

Witkoff said Hamas’s response was “totally unacceptable and only takes us backward”, urging the group to “accept the framework proposal we put forward”.

“That is the only way we can close a 60-day ceasefire deal in the coming days in which half of the living hostages and half of those who are deceased will come home to their families and in which we can have… substantive negotiations in good-faith to try to reach a permanent ceasefire,” he added in a post on X.

A source within the group’s political bureau said it had offered “a positive response to Witkoff, but with emphasis on guaranteeing a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal” from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu echoed US envoy Steve Witkoff’s assessment that the response was “unacceptable”, accusing Hamas of clinging “to its rejectionism”.